Black Friday Can Kiss My Ass!

Black Friday Can Kiss My Ass!
Current mood: contemplative

Well, everyone, I am particularly excited this week. This will be the first thanksgiving weekend I have had off since I was 11. Yeah, 11!!! Seriously, this is no exaggeration. Let me recap.

I got my first job as a paperboy when I was 11. I did this on my bike, just like the video game, at 4:30 in the morning, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, for 4 years until I got into high school. Black Friday (retail slang for the day after thanksgiving) was the absolute worst. The papers were massive, weighing up to 10 lbs. each with all the ads.

When I reached high school, I started running cross-country, which trained in the mornings. So I had to give up my paper route. But that's when I started at Nordstrom as a stock boy (that term has been recently politically corrected to stockperson---how stupid is that?). And of course, here at Nordy's the biggest and nuttiest day of the year is Black Friday.

During college I worked various jobs (furniture delivery, salesperson, collections, etc.) but since they mostly revolved around the retail world, I was always super-busy on Black Friday.

After college, when I started at Amazon, Black Friday and the whole holiday thing really took on a new meaning in my head. Not only were we busting our asses on a daily basis (Cory can attest to this), but Black Friday was usually the beginning of 2 months of "Mandatory Overtime." Yuck. I don't think the words "Mandatory" and "Overtime" should ever be found in the same sentence together.

After Amazon, I managed the Men's Dept at the Nordstrom Rack through 3 Black Fridays. This was the absolute worst, and some of those hellish days are the reasons behind why I'm in school now trying to create more and different opportunities for myself. As difficult as my time at the Rack was, I am grateful for it now in a funny way. It really showed me how horrible and degrading the retail world can really be, and it gave me serious motivation to get back into school and finish my degree.

As you can imagine, I have pretty negative associations with Black Friday and the whole holiday shopping season in general. No wonder I don't celebrate Xmas (well, also probably 'cause I don't believe in that Jebus guy or that wacky 2000-year-old book). For 17 years, which is more than half my life, Black Friday has consistently been the worst day of the year for me.

That's why I'm so excited about this year. You see, I not only have Black Friday off, but I have a whole 4-day thanksgiving weekend! Those of you who have never worked in retail may not understand how big of a deal this is. But those of you who have been down in the trenches dealing with the complete shittiness of our yearly orgy of capitalism know exactly what I mean. In fact, if memory serves me correctly, I began to blog here on myspace around this time last year, with an opening salvo dealing with the very same subject.

My goal is to not spend a single dime all weekend. I'm going to spend Black Friday holed up in my apartment playing the new Zelda (which is INCREDIBLE, by the way). I don't want to even go outside that day. That's how much of a big deal this is to me. And since I can see downtown quite clearly out my window, I am going to curl up at some point in the day with a nice glass of wine and a cat or two in my lap, and gaze out at all the shoppers and the cars and the Santas, and think about the life I've had for so long. It will feel so good to know that I'm finally making my way out of it, and even though I'm still in retail behind the scenes, I can see the light at the end of my tunnel. Having this weekend off is particularly sweet. But hopefully, 2 years from now, I will be gazing out that window knowing that I don't even work in the retail industry anymore. That's gonna feel real good.

And for those of you who have to work Friday, my heart and deepest sympathies go out to you.

Currently listening :
Before / After
By Heaven 17
Release date: 06 September, 2005